My Youngest’s Room Makeover

October 30, 2021 in Decor, DIY's

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A couple of months ago I walked into my youngest’s room and noticed some of his cute dinosaur wallpaper was buckling. 😱

You can see the buckling wood wall boards.

We installed it about a year ago over some permanent adhesive peel and stick style wall boards on his focal wall. After pulling back part of the wallpaper I noticed many of the wall boards with buckling and some even popping off. After peeling off the wallpaper (that we loved so much), I discovered an even bigger issue. The wall boards that popped off could NOT be put back on and I didn’t have any extras to replace the many that were buckled, so I decided to take the wood wall boards down.

However, remember when I mentioned that had permanent adhesive… well the ones that hadn’t buckled or peeled off destroyed the Sheetrock on the wall when I removed them. I tried a heat gun and hair dryer to help heat and losses the adhesive backing… it did not help at all. So after removing the entire focal wall of wall boards I put up tempered hardboard panels to cover up the damaged sheet rock. Tempered hardboard is commonly used when doing wall treatments (like board and batten, etc) when the wall is textured. It is inexpensive, takes paint well and had a nice smooth surface. I installed mine with a brad nailer and went back and secured into the studs with panel nails. You CAN use liquid nails or another type of permanent adhesive to secure it to the wall- but after the fiasco I just dealt with..I was not about to use another permanent method.😱

Here you can see the EXTENSIVE wall damage caused when I removed the wall boards. It pulled the top paper layer of the sheetrock off.

***NOTE: I decided against replacing the sheetrock. Sheetrock work is VERY dusty and time consuming- involving multiple layers of drywall mud and sanding.

Once the tempered hardboard panels where up, it was time for the wall treatment. His room only has one window and it faces our shady backyard, so keeping it light and bright was one of my main goals. I loved the way the wall treatment in my dining room looks and how it makes the ceilings feel taller than they are (our ceilings in the entire home are standard 8 ft tall) so I used that space as the inspiration for his room.

My formal dining room space with board and batten painted white on the lower 2/3 of the wall.

I planned to have the lower 2/3 of the walls white and the upper 1/3 and ceiling painted in a blue gray shade. He loves trains, oceans, dinosaurs and more! So I think the blue gray color will mimic water or sky. But before I could paint the ceiling, I had to scrape all the popcorn off. If you have popcorn ceilings, be sure to have them tested to make sure they do not contain asbestos. If you do decide to scrape then be prepared- it can be messy… but is also so worth it!!!

Once the ceiling was scraped, I sanded any areas that needed smoothing out. Then I applied one coat of primer to the ceiling and the upper part of the tempered hardboard on the wall and let it dry.

Next up was starting the wall treatment. I added 1×6 primed boards horizontally across the top of his walls. I installed them at 72”. I also removed all the old baseboards and replaced them with primed 1×6 boards also.

The focal wall with the tempered hardboard and 1×6 boards installed on the upper wall and baseboard

Next, I added 6” primed Weaber Lumber Shiplap boards to the lower section of the main focal wall. I installed them vertically to help create the illusion of height to the room. The boards installed easily and I love the texture they add to the space.

installing the Weaber Lumber primed shiplap boards.

I then caulked all the wood trim I added using a paintable caulk. Caulking will help to hide any wood imperfections due to wall variances, wood boards that may be slightly misshapen or slight miscalculations in cuts. It will give your project a nice finished look! I also patched any old holes in the walls with spackle, in preparation for paint.

Then, it was finally time to paint!!! I used PPG paint in the color Mirror Mirror in a flat finish on the ceiling and upper 1/3 of the walls. I used my go to white paint, Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace (OC-65) in an eggshell finish for all the lower walls. Once dry, I painted the new baseboards in Behr semi gloss paint in Ultra Pure White.

Once it was all dry it was time for all the details that make the room feel finished!!!

I installed a new ceiling fan in a matte silver finish to blend in with the new painted ceiling.

The new ceiling fan in a matte silver finish.

I painted the metal air return ceiling vent with one coat of gray primer, installed it back in the ceiling and then used the Mirror Mirror paint color and used a brush to paint the exterior of the air vent cover so it blends into the ceiling.

I primed then painted the ceiling register cover to blend in with the ceiling.

I then created a book wall for him with these fun industrial metal wall racks! They are perfect to put all his favorite books that we read at night before bed. Since he can’t read yet, he can easily see the covers and help choose which ones we will read each night. No more pulling them all off the shelf to find “the one”. The new book racks also take up zero floor space which helped his room feel more spacious and open! We periodically rotate the books out on the rack with others we keep in our playroom so he has a variety to choose from.

The wall racks installed for his book wall.

I found a wall quote and reused his wooden word ADVENTURE to create the quote over his book wall. “Adventure is just a page away…” . I used my Cricut machine to cut out the rest of the quote using permanent black vinyl and used the font DTC Apple Cider.

I used my Cricut machine to cut the other words in the quote out of permanent black vinyl.

Installing the wall quote for his book wall.

We kept his same area rug from Boutique Rugs called Ringwood. (Use: DIYHAPPY60 to save 60% off anything on the site.)

I assembled his new bed.

Hung a mirror over his dresser.

Installed the mirror one his existing dresser.

Installed the linen look curtains (which have a blackout backing)- to keep out the early morning sun.

Blackout curtains that have a beautiful linen look. This is the color: Sour Cream.

Added his same bedding from Beddy’s. Beddy’s bedding makes bed making so easy! It is a fitted sheet, top sheet and blanket all in one. It zips up easily with two zippers- one on each side. Best part- no more blankets drooping at the end of the bed… and your kiddos can make their bed easily! (You can use : HAPPYHOME to save 20% of anything on their website.)